Longitudinal alterations of modular functional-metabolic coupling in first-episode schizophrenia

Suzhen Zhang; Wenli Li; Qiong Xiang; Xinping Kuai; Kaiming Zhuo; Jinhong Wang; Yifeng Xu; Yao Li; Dengtang Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.10.067

Longitudinal alterations of modular functional-metabolic coupling in first-episode schizophrenia

J Psychiatr Res. 2022 Dec:156:705-712. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.10.067. Epub 2022 Nov 7.

Authors

Suzhen Zhang¹, Wenli Li², Qiong Xiang³, Xinping Kuai³, Kaiming Zhuo³, Jinhong Wang⁴, Yifeng Xu⁵, Yao Li⁶, Dengtang Liu⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; First-episode Schizophrenia and Early Psychosis Program, Division of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
³ First-episode Schizophrenia and Early Psychosis Program, Division of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Medical Imaging, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁵ First-episode Schizophrenia and Early Psychosis Program, Division of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Institute of Mental Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: yaoli@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; First-episode Schizophrenia and Early Psychosis Program, Division of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Institute of Mental Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: liudengtang@smhc.org.cn.

PMID: 36410309
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.10.067

Abstract

Altered network organization and aberrant neurometabolic levels have been associated with schizophrenia. However, modular alterations of functional-neurometabolic coupling in various stages of schizophrenia remain unclear. This longitudinal study enrolled 34 drug-naïve first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and 30 healthy controls (HC). The FES patients underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) at baseline, 2 months, and 6 months of treatment. For ¹H-MRS, the concentrations of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and glutamate + glutamine in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region were measured. A graph theoretical approach was applied for functional connectivity-based modular parcellation. We found that intra-default mode network (DMN) connectivity, inter-modular connectivity between the DMN and the hippocampus, and inter-modular connectivity between the DMN and the frontoparietal module were significantly different across 6-month treatment in the FES patients. The inter-module connectivity of the DMN and hippocampus correlated positively with NAA concentration in the HC group, while this correlation was absent in FES patients. This exploratory study suggests an altered modular connectivity in association with neurometabolite concentrations in FES patients and provides insights into multimodal neuroimaging biomarkers in schizophrenia. Future studies with larger sample sizes are needed to consolidate our findings.

Keywords: Longitudinal; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Modular organization; Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging; Schizophrenia.

MeSH terms

Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Schizophrenia* / diagnostic imaging